Street parking, RingGo, and VAT

Does paying by RingGo mean input VAT can be reclaimed on street parking?

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Before I begin, this is more settling a matter of curiosity and implement best practice going forward, rather than a deep seated review of the VAT that may have been recovered. In almost all of the instances where I have found this occurring, we have been unable to reclaim the VAT anyway, as the expenses were directly related to exempt revenue generated by operations, and therefor ultimately irrecoverable anyway.

I have handled employee expense claims for several years (albeit less so recently), and the VAT involved with regards to parking can be a challenge; particularly when employees lose receipts or don't give enough information. However, the advent of PayByPhone, RingGo, et. al. changes the factor in relation to receipts - if someone has used one of these services, they can invariably get a VAT receipt.

A short while ago, I handled an expenses claim that included RingGo receipts for street parking (I knew it was street parking, as I had used it myself a few weeks prior to handling the claim) that charged VAT on the entire cost, rather than splitting out a parking charge and admin fee and applying VAT to the admin fee only. Back when I was handling claims frequently, I would see on the invoices that the costs were split and VAT applied only to the administrative element. So what changed?

The parking is still ultimately provided by the council, but who is the customer when it comes to paying via phone/internet? Are we the customer of the private entity, who are in turn the customer of the council, or are we the customer of both, with the council providing one service and the private entity providing another? Why did RingGo at one point in time charge VAT only on an admin fee, but now charges VAT on the entire cost? I have been unable to find any discussions on changes in the legislation, or of any cases ruling that such entities must charge VAT on all payments collected.

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By Truthsayer
18th Nov 2020 00:07

I haven't heard of any change regarding on-street parking being VAT exempt, and RingGo is certainly not providing that service as they don't own the parking spaces. They are only providing the admin. Are you sure there is not a car park on that street as well as on-street parking? That might explain it.

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Replying to Truthsayer:
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By Paul Crowley
18th Nov 2020 00:10

I looked it up and came to a similar conclusion
Street parking, no VAT

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